Duke Bringing Football Out Of The Shadow

Coach Roof Plots Resurgence Of Once-dominant, Long-overlooked Program

The Devils You Don't Know

September 10, 2004|By DESMOND CONNER; Courant Staff Writer

Before there was Duke basketball ... there was Duke football.

``Prior to the mid-1960s, it was a football school,'' Duke athletic director Joe Alleva said. ``Obviously we haven't been very good in football, well, probably in around 30 years. But there's still a lot of support for football, a lot of people that like it. But because we haven't been real competitive, it's difficult to attract the crowds and everything.''

The Blue Devils had only three winning seasons -- and three winless seasons -- in the past 21 years. Last season, their average attendance of 20,026 at seven home games at the 33,941-seat Wallace Wade Stadium was 97th among the 117 Division I-A schools.

But, yes, Duke once was considered a football school, especially when Wade led Duke to 110 wins and two Rose Bowl appearances in the 1930s and '40s.

But things started to change in 1976 when guys like Gene Banks and Mike Gminski came to fill an almost bare Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke's basketball program has been among the best since.

The football team leveled off after Bill Murray compiled a 93-51-9 record from 1951-65. Steve Spurrier led the team to the ACC title in 1989 and the Blue Devils went to the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1995 after an 8-4 finish.

But success in football has been minimal in recent years. The Devils held the nation's longest losing streak -- 23 games -- from the end of 1999 to the beginning of the 2002 season. They just broke a 30-game ACC losing streak last season.

Duke football had become a way of passing the time until Duke basketball started.

It wasn't too long ago that the thinking around here was the same with regard to UConn football and basketball.

And then Huskies coach Randy Edsall came. Then I-A football came. Then Rentschler Field came. The perception of UConn football has changed dramatically in a short time.

Coach Ted Roof is trying to do the same at Duke, where football better get up and running as part of the sparkling new ACC.

``I'm a believer that just because we have a fantastic basketball program doesn't mean we can't have a good football program,'' Roof said. ``I think basketball here helps football from the fact of the exposure. Duke has been in almost every living room in America. The brand Duke, the product label, is what Coach K has done across the street. I look at that as a big positive. I believe the two can co-exist. We've got a way to go, but we're going to work at it.''

Roof, who coached with Edsall at Georgia Tech in the late '90s, replaced Carl Franks, who was fired after six games last season. Franks' record since 1999 was 3-30.

The Blue Devils are 2-4 under Roof, including a season-opening loss at Navy last weekend. They come into Rentschler Field for a noon contest Saturday in the first meeting between the two schools.

Roof began working on changing the perception of the football program almost as soon as he took over last season. He went to fraternity and sorority groups stumping for support. Just before Senior Day, the school newspaper ran a letter he wrote to drum up student support. He also sent e-mail to all seniors through the dean of students.

``It wasn't just Senior Day for us but Senior Day for all the students at Duke University and it worked,'' Roof said.

The result? On a dreary day in Durham, only 12,976 fans showed up. But the Devils snapped their long conference losing streak by whipping Georgia Tech, 41-17. The goalposts came down. Duke went on to beat North Carolina for the first time in 13 years in the season finale.

Alleva said he believes Roof is the guy to return Duke football to prominence, but that it will take some more pushing.

``Oh yeah, we have to promote it,'' Alleva said. ``You know we don't have to do any promotion for basketball. We just sell out season tickets, I'm sure, like UConn does. But no, we try to promote it and get people to come, there's no doubt about it.''

But over the years, negative recruiting has come into play. Competing coaches not only point out the program's losing tradition, but they label Duke a basketball school.

``And then I say [to recruits], obviously, our basketball team has had tremendous success but that's why we're recruiting you,'' Roof said. ``Right now this is the land of opportunity for somebody. I believe there are 20-25 kids across America that want to get a great education and be an architect in building a program.''

The commitment to football is certainly there. The Yoh Football Center, a $22 million, 70,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility opened in Wallace Wade in 2002.

``I'm sure the student body would like to see the football team have the same success as the basketball team,'' said senior quarterback Chris Dapolito, a transfer from Rutgers. ``The atmosphere at a football game, especially at a top program, is second to none.''

BLACK AND BLUE DEVILS

Since Steve Spurrier went 20-13-1 from 1987-89, the four coaches who succeeded him have struggled: